The Barcelona striker was taken off the pitch on a stretcher after taking a knee to the back from the Colombia defender Juan Zuniga late in the game.

He was taken to a private clinic in Fortaleza – “crying out in pain”, according to the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, – where an X-ray revealed he had fractured one of his vertebrae.

Rodrigo Lasmar, the Brazil team doctor, said: “This news is not easy but he will not be available for the rest of the World Cup. Neymar has a broken vertebra. He will be out for four to six weeks.”

Zuniga defended the challenge, claiming he did not deliberately try to hurt Brazil’s talisman.

“It was a normal move” he said. “I never meant to hurt a player. I was on the field, playing for the shirt from my country, not without the intent to injure. I was just defending my shirt.”

Thiago Silva and David Luiz had scored the goals to set up a semi-final against Germany in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, but Neymar’s injury represents a grievous setback given his importance to the team and the absence of a ready-made replacement. He has been one of the stars of the tournament and a player the Brazil public regard as their best hope of victory.

Brazil will also have to do without Thiago Silva against Germany, ruled out after his second yellow card of the tournament, but it is the news about Neymar that will raise the most doubts about whether Scolari’s team have enough quality to go all the way.

Scolari had earlier held a press conference in which he ruled Neymar out of the Germany game but acknowledged that the news might be even worse.

“I don’t know,” he said to the question of how he could replace Neymar. “I’m going to have to study this. It depends how people recover. Neymar has gone to a clinic.

“He was crying out in pain and I can guarantee it’s going to be hard for him, from what the doctors are telling me, and from what I was seeing, with the pain he was in. He’s young, he has a lot of energy and he takes cares of himself. So let’s see. Let’s just hope it’s not a serious problem.”

Unfortunately for Brazil, the scan revealed the injury was worse than Brazil’s medical staff had initially feared. “He’s out of the competition,” David Luiz said. “He’s a great guy and now he’s out. Everyone feels sad.”

Maicon added: “We must give Neymar all our support. It is complicated now [for the team], at this stage of a World Cup.”